Day Two.

January 4th, 2009


My post-christmas car is pimped out. I now have a CD player (that plays/charges my iPod), a GPS unit, new windshield wipers, fresh spark-plugs, and fresh oil running through my engine. We spent the day hanging in Orlando with friends, fixing up the car, and chilling out before we head north tomorrow. Next stop South Carolina!

Day One.

January 3rd, 2009
166 miles.


Matt and I had packed the car up the night before but leaving day still felt like a whirlwind of urgent activities. All the bits and pieces were difficult to deal with but we finally bid my family good bye around 5pm. Saying good bye is never easy but knowing we'll be back so soon helps.

We arrived in Orlando around 7:30 and headed out to the Saturday night Jai Alai game. After a bit of interweb research, I found that this fast-paced sport is really a Florida thing to do so it seemed appropriate for our last night on the town in O-town. I keep my strategy simple when it comes to gambling: Know how much you want to spend to have a fun time before hand (I figured I would pay $15 or drinks and to see the games)

So, after purchasing my $2.50 draft beer I made a $2 quinella bet on the next game. While the boys were studying odds and paying close attention to players during practice, I chose to base my decisions solely on arbitrary things like colors that look pretty together and favorite numbers. I won $21 and then I won $36.
There's jumping and yelling; it's a very exciting game to watch! ;)

All in all, day one was a great success.

Yes, we can.

We're all familiar with the endings of dramatic movies.
A sea of awe-struck people, tears brimming in their eyes,
grinning ear to ear as they listen carefully to a leader.
The words of a powerful man spreading words of hope.

And as the lights come up, and the volume turns down,
we all experience that time-warp moment where we snap back into reality.
Back into the "real world" where we have to let go of the fantasy.
But tonight, there wasn't any sliding back because it was real.
Tonight, Barack Obama received a landslide of love from us all.
This night marks the beginning of a journey for our country to again become something positive; something to be proud of and grow with.

I have never been more hopeful that I might find myself living in a place that I can understand. The prospect of living in a country free of the religious right's fear driven policies against women having the right over their own bodies, or gay couples being told how to live and love. The founding fathers built this country on beautiful ideals that have been vanishing over the years in sight of corporate greed and blood soaked war. Well, NO MORE!
We're getting this show back on the road.


"Democracy, opportunity, and unyielding hope!"
-Barack Obama.-

outside my door is great

Smatt got out of the city and deep into the great outdoors over the weekend. While the plan was to summit South Sister and see the glacier resting up top, the weather dictated otherwise. So, we hiked into an old growth forest and to see waterfalls and an old mining camp called "Jawbone" instead!


While Portland incorporates nature as much as any metro area ever could, it was still really neat to see Oregon's flora and fauna outside city limits. Luckily, EJ loaned me a waterproof jacket for our rainy walk. I learned that just because it's "hardly sprinkling" doesn't mean you won't eventually find yourself soaking wet. This was a sound lesson if I plan to become a 'pacific northwesterner' full-time in the future.




(I plan to become a pacific northwesterner)

California is a great place to live if you're an orange

I was in LA when Marvin Gaye died. At least, that's what my mom told me. Seeing as I was only a year old, I don't remember anything about the famous block of land stretching down our west coast. All I had was hear-say, and the mental picture I conjured up over the years seemed to prove (as usual) quite a bit different from reality.

My reality is only what I know, and what I know is FL and OR. So, to me; Northern California is like putting Florida and Oregon in a mixing bowl.

Similar to Portland, OR: There are hills and mountain, there is a "green movement", much cooler weather, much better local produce, and simply that fresh west coast vibe that keeps people moving forward.

Similar to WPB, Florida: There is a lot of urban sprawl, with a lot of really rich people...so, things cost quite a bit more and they spend the money buying weird things like expensive cars...

My mom's boyfriend John did a great job of showing us as much as we could possibly take in for one weekend. From great views down trails, beaches, a farmer's market, San Fran, his home town, wonderful meals, and more. In an attempt to capture it all between the glass of our camera lenses we took a bunch of photos.

We had a great time and look forward to getting to know California better in the future. :) Until then, we have these photos to remember it by.


http://picasaweb.google.com/syeakle/SmattInCalifornia

Le Parc

I think Matt has a new addiction, and it's not a cheap one.


Yesterday on Matt's day off, we went to the park with a spread of incredible, edible snacks. The meats, cheese, olives, and a few grapes we brought with us were thanks to our favorite local markets.



Among the mix was the 'jamon imberico' from Spain Matt has been itching to try. At a whopping $95 per lb. we could only afford a few slices of the cured wild pig leg but, it was worth our hard earned dough. Matt says he has a new love. And soon he'll be saying such things in french.


Smatt is learning to speak french. For an hour each day, we have french lessons and then spend the rest of the day trying to implement what we've learned. The system we're using is very different from the french class I took in college. Rather then also worrying about how to write it and read it, we're simply learning to speak it. And rather then start with colors and numbers, we've started with phrases we will actually use such as "Where would you like to go to dinner tonight?"


So, after our lavish lunch, we laid in the grass and spoke french to the tree tops looming above us. Having our lessons on an iPod is far more convenient then lugging around textbooks anyway. We're having fun with it, to say the least.

Labor

Labor day brought us to yet another near-by park. Matt and I played some more wiffleball and ate more food over the long weekend with his kitchen crew again. I brought along the camera and we snapped a few photos.


Here we are our way down to the Lucky Lab afterwards.
We competitively rolled this tire down Quimby.




Portland is still super awesome and Matt is still super cute. :)